In Barking Up The Wrong Tree, players must try to collect the most trees, preferably of different types. To do this, they place dogs barking up the trees of their choice, and the most dogs wins the tree. Normally a player can place only one breed of dog per tree, but if a player plays a cat card, then more dogs can join the throng.

The game is played over five lively game rounds, with increasing numbers of dogs, cats and trees available each round.